The present invention relates to a method of adjusting an exposure system for changing the spot shape and size of an energy beam, and, more particularly, to a method of adjusting an optical column in an energy beam exposure system.
Electron beam exposure apparatuses have been developed in a variety of applications as apparatuses for forming micropatterns on targets such as semiconductor wafers or substrates. Among these electron beam exposure apparatuses, an electron beam exposure apparatus for changing the spot shape and size of an electron beam formed on a target so as to improve the throughput of drawing has attracted a great deal of attention.
Such a conventional exposure apparatus comprises two beam aperture masks for changing spot shape and size, two beam deflectors, two blanking deflectors for blanking the beams, and a blanking plate. In this exposure apparatus, when the electron beam is blanked, the beam is deflected by the blanking deflector and intercepted by the blanking plate. During blanking, the following problems occur. The beam spot is shifted during the blanking transient period of the electron beam, and the spot shape and size of the beam change during the blanking transient period of the electron beam, thereby degrading drawing precision.
The same problems as described above occur not only in an electron beam exposure apparatus for changing the spot shape and size of the electron beam, but also in an ion beam exposure apparatus for changing the spot shape and size of the ion beam.